This Week: Syria’s Fighting, Iran’s Windfall, and Iraq’s Violence

A member of Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra mans a checkpoint on the border crossing between Syria and Jordan, which they claim to have taken control of, in Daraa December 26, 2013 (Khassawneh/Courtesy Reuters).

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Syria. The United Nations and Syria agreed today to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged old city of Homs, and to allow women and children safe passage out. The agreement came just hours after Syrian rebels announced a new campaign in Aleppo against government forces which escalated its air assault earlier this week. On Sunday, al-Qaeda’s central leadership officially cut its ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a major insurgent group that operates in Syria and Iraq and has caused widespread conflict among rebel factions fighting against Bashar al-Assad. Divisions between the two groups began emerging last year when al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri ordered ISIS to withdraw from Syria in order for the rebellion to be led by their official affiliate, the Nusra Front.

Syria. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham told reporters that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had suggested to a bipartisan congressional delegation that President Obama needs a new, more assertive Syria policy. The conversation reportedly took place on Sunday in Munich, one day after Kerry joined Defense Secretary Hagel to give an uncompromising defense of the administration’s foreign policy.

Saudi Arabia.The White House announced that President Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia in March. The visit will be the first to the kingdom since popular uprisings across the Middle East began in 2011. “Saudi Arabia is a close partner of the United States, and we have a bilateral relationship that is broad and deep and covers a range of areas,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday. The visit appears designed to patch up differences between Washington and Riyadh that have spilled over into the public over the United States’ handling of Syria’s civil war.

Israel-Palestine. Israeli politicians continued to criticize Secretary of State Kerry this week, accusing him of manipulating the threat of an economic boycott against Israel to pressure the government into peace concessions. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki rebuked the criticisms, emphasizing Kerry’s demonstration of “staunch opposition to boycotts.” Kerry yesterday also brushed off the criticisms, telling CNN that, “I’ve been, quote, ‘attacked’ before by people using real bullets, not words. And I am not going to be intimidated.” Israel’s chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, rebuked fellow government ministers over their criticisms of Secretary Kerry.

Yemen.A ceasefire was restored today between Sunni tribesmen and northern Houthi rebels after fighting broke out just north of Sana’a last night. The fledgling truce was agreed to on Tuesday to end fighting that had killed nearly 150 people in the past week.

Egypt. A video of the arrest of two Al Jazeera journalists was leaked on Monday in Egypt and broadcasted on a pro-government private channel. The two journalists, Egyptian-Canadian television producer Mohamed Fahmy and Australian correspondent Peter Greste, have been detained since their arrest on December 29 and were among twenty Al Jazeera journalists charged with broadcasting false reports to help the Muslim Brotherhood.

Iraq. Seven car bombs exploded across Baghdad today, killing at least thirteen people in the latest of a series of explosions that have wracked the Iraqi capital. Yesterday, a wave of bombings included blasts in the city’s “Green Zone” and a busy square in the city center. While no group has claimed responsibility for the killings, the bombings followed a long series of attacks blamed by the government on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria (ISIS).